Politics in the Workplace? Three Tips to Turn Down the Heat

One of my clients has long had a prohibition on discussing politics in the workplace. Should someone forget and engage in political dialogue, the friendly reminder code word is “pizza,” a signal to cease and desist. I must admit, I initially thought this was silly. After all, we are all adults.

It turns out that this employer was ahead of its time. A recent survey, conducted by ResumeNow in January, and cited in Forbes, USA Today, CNBC, The New York Times, and CNET.com, found disturbing trends among the over one thousand employees interviewed. *

• Workplace conflict is rising: 91% have observed or experienced political clashes at work, and 81% say the workplace has become more tense
• Political discussions are becoming more frequent and heated: 72% say they’ve increased, and 75% say they’ve become more intense
• Political divisions are affecting workplace relationships: 51% actively avoid collaborating with coworkers with opposing views
• Many employees want restrictions on political discussions: 92% support policies to limit political talk at work.

*Article by Keith Spencer, published February 18, 2025

Three Tips to Turn Down the Heat:

While there are several more than three tips — seven come to mind — the three in this post are the beginning. We didn’t get here overnight, and we won’t rid ourselves of this contentiousness overnight: the process of change will be slow and steady. The three tips in this post are the foundation on which many more tips should be built.

Tip #1: Establish a Politics Free Groundrule at Work: Model the Conduct

Digging deeper, the survey also found:

• 93% believe their company’s leadership has a political bias that affects workplace policies and decisions.
• 90% believe political bias impacts promotions, raises, or workplace opportunities.

Leaders have numerous goals and objectives, commencing with facilitating a strategic plan, communicating it, and motivating the team to achieve it. Taking a page out of the leadership book of my client, clearly political bias and discussion is impacting the teams’ ability to achieve the plan. Leaders should:

1. Establish a Groundrule: no political discussions in the workplace.
2. At the next all-team meeting, the “top dog” should announce the Groundrule, with words such as, “there are several political views represented in the organization, including among the senior leaders. We have noticed that political discussions are causing distress among many and impacting our ability to achieve our overall goals. Starting today, we are establishing a politics free organization with the Groundule: no political discussions in the workplace. The prohibition starts with leadership, and I’ll be holding the senior team, including me, accountable. I also have an open-door policy and invite any team member to come directly to me with any concerns.”
3. More important than the Groundrule is the leadership’s conduct. The organizational head and the balance of leadership must hold themselves accountable, with consequences for violating the Groundrule.

Tip #2: Facilitate a Teambuilding Retreat: Begin to Heal the Wounds

1. If your workplace has experienced the divide found in the survey, which is likely given the percentages found, establishing the Groundrule alone will not do the trick. A team retreat facilitated by an established neutral facilitator would work best. An internal candidate might be perceived as having a bias, which could undermine the aim of the retreat.
2. The most effective retreat process includes up-front information gathering via surveys, focus groups, one-on-one confidential interviews, or a mix of all of them. This becomes a gap analysis, demonstrating where the organization is against where it should be, as defined by leadership. This allows the facilitator to develop the desired outcomes of the retreat. The crafting of the agenda is key and would likely include group activities with team members with known opposing political views working together. It would also include the development of guiding principles or agreed-upon norms of acceptable conduct.
3. Follow-up is always crucial and is often the most critical factor for ensuring success. At the beginning of all meetings, leaders should repeat and underscore the agreed-to principles, engaging in dialogue built around the leaders listening to learn what’s working and what’s not working. This allows for tweaking the guiding principles, as agreed to. Quarterly check-ins with the facilitator serve to keep people on track. Also, the facilitator can be useful as a “listening ear,” receiving phone calls from employees with concerns who would feel uncomfortable discussing them directly with the organizational head.

Tip #3: Hold Team Members Accountable — Starting with Leadership

1. The adage “actions speak louder than words” is key here. Whether an outcome of the retreat includes adopting a word or other signal (remember my client’s choice of using the word pizza?), gentle reminders should begin immediately after the retreat. (I remember walking down my client’s halls hearing “pizza, pizza,” which reminded me of a TV ad for a pizza company.)
2. If there are repeat offenders, further disciplinary action should be taken. Example: My client read an early morning, politically charged email sent by one of her employees. When reminded of the prohibition on politics in the workplace, she asked the employee to take it down. After much back and forth, with the employee adamantly stating that he felt so strongly about the matter, he would not take it down, the supervisor indicated that “failure or refusal to take it down” would be insubordination for which he could be terminated. Sadly, the employee refused to take down the email, and he was terminated.

It’s a Wrap: Three Tips for Turning Down the Heat

• Tip #1: Establish a Politics Free Groundrule at Work: Model the Conduct
• Tip #2: Facilitate a Teambuilding Retreat: Begin to Heal the Wounds
• Tip #3: Hold Team Members Accountable: Starting with Leadership

After adopting these foundational tips, be on the lookout for additional steps to take

Further Reading For more insights on effective communication, read my books, *Consequential Communication in Turbulent Times: A Practical Guide to Leadership and [Can we all just get along? Rodney King — Courageous Communication: A Return to Civility](https://www.amazon.com/Can-All-Just-Along-Communication/dp/1733614621/)*

For more posts on consequential communication, visit dianapetersonmore.com/blog.

If you enjoyed this post and would like to be the first to get more great content click here.

Beginning January 2026, in her series “Wise Women and Good Men,” Diana will be facilitating conversations between two individuals with differing views on a topic who agree to use “I” statements, eliminating “you” statements. Thus, rather than say, “You made me so mad when you said, x, y, or z” substitute with, “I get upset when I hear the comment, x, y, or z.” If you would be interested in volunteering for a LinkedIn Live conversation, let Diana know at diana@dianapetersonmore.com or via her website, dianapetersonmore.com.